Roentgen rays have been used for the treatment of joint diseases for many years. The earliest published report is that of Sokoloff (Russia) in 1897. Practically all types of joint involvement have been treated. There are reports of roentgen therapy in gonorrheal arthritis (Wetterer, Kaplan), in tuberculosis (Iselin, Jüngling), in gout (Albers-Schönberg), in osteo-arthritis (Staunig, Kahlmeter, Swaim, Goldhamer), and in hypertrophic spondylarthritis (Köhler, Kelly). Favorable results have been reported in all these conditions, but in the rheumatoid (atrophic, proliferative) types of arthritis roentgen therapy has been regarded as less satisfactory. Watt (England), in 1932, wrote: “In hypertrophic arthritis, radiation is the treatment of choice; in the atrophic type, little or no benefit can be expected.” Smyth, Freyberg and Lampe, in this country, reported their results in rheumatoid arthritis as “so discouraging that we abandoned this treatment.” Favorable results have been obtained in Marie-Strümpell dis...